Las Vegans experience benefits of infrared saunas

There’s a new health trend in town, and it’s hot.

Infrared saunas run about 140 degrees and essentially consist of a wooden box with black panels emitting infrared light.

The purported benefits include detoxification, expedited muscle recovery, skin purification, relaxation, pain relief, weight loss and more.

The trend has stamps of approval from the likes of Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow and other celebrities and models who frequent New York City’s infrared sauna spas.

While a stove heats the air to about 180 or 190 degrees in a conventional sauna, infrared light, which the body perceives as heat, penetrates up to three inches of tissue and allows people to sweat more profusely at a lower temperature — typically between 130 and 150 degrees. Infrared saunas produce dry heat, making it easier to breathe and withstand longer periods of exposure than in a conventional sauna. At Cure Infrared Sauna Studio in Las Vegas, a typical session lasts 40 minutes.

Though a few spas in Las Vegas offer infrared saunas and wrap treatments among their other services, Cure Infrared Sauna Studio is the first in the valley to solely focus on infrared light. Cure has five private rooms, four of which can fit one or two people and one that can fit up to four. The rooms also have chromotherapy lights that turn colors to target different chakras — for example, red targets the circulatory and nervous functions, blue relieves stress and anxiety. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

A single session costs $35 at Cure; monthly memberships cost $89 for four sessions per month or $139 for eight sessions per month. Cure owner April Sullivan recommends that clients attend two sessions per week to experience the full range of benefits.

Though infrared saunas were a relatively novel concept when Cure opened two years ago — and still are — Cure has attracted a roster of regular clients.

“People will see something on, like, Oprah or Dr. Oz, they’ll feature something and just hearing it, people will go home and type it in and look it up,” Sullivan says, “and fortunately for us right now, we’re the only ones in Las Vegas.”

Heather Nelson, 45, began visiting Cure in April 2015 while she was undergoing treatment for colon cancer.

She’d been receiving chemotherapy, and after attending a seminar on homeopathic methods in San Diego, she wanted something different. Infrared therapy became a part of her homeopathic regimen.

After her first session, Nelson’s sweat had an ashy-black tinge, which Sullivan says is evidence of the body purging toxins. Nelson visited Cure every day for a week when she was introduced to it, simultaneously quitting the myriad habit-forming prescription drugs she was taking. Going to the infrared sauna, she believes, eliminated any withdrawal symptoms.

Now cancer-free, she says infrared therapy helped her recover from both the disease and the harsh medicines used to treat it.

Though her doctors did not support her decision to use the infrared sauna regularly, Nelson says, “I think it’s something that helped in addition to everything else that I took.” She still visits the sauna once a week, a routine that leaves her feeling refreshed and with smoother skin.

Scott Vollmer, 53, began visiting Cure twice a week in September at the recommendation of his doctor. He was mainly interested in improved muscle and joint recovery.

Though he struggled to get through his first couple of sessions, it’s now a relaxing routine and the aches and pains in his legs are gone. He notices a marked difference if he skips a couple of sessions.

“Most of the time, I come out of there just in a complete Zen moment, I feel just relaxed and at ease,” Vollmer says.

Even in the summer, when Las Vegas temperatures rise into the triple digits, Sullivan says clients still come regularly. And, she says, clients have found that regularly sitting in the 135-plus degree sauna can actually make Las Vegas summers more bearable.

“Normally, somebody who probably doesn’t come in and expose themselves to a 140-degree temperature, they walk out when it’s 115 and they’re miserable,” Sullivan says. “But people who do this consistently walk out and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s 115, I’m used to 140.’ So it really acclimated people to heat so the summer didn’t bother them that much.”

Evidence of infrared sauna’s health benefits is primarily anecdotal, with little scientific research reinforcing the claims — or suggesting any harm could come of it.

Amy Sparks, a Las Vegas physician practicing functional medicine, refers patients with Lyme disease and other immune disorders because of the often elevated levels of heavy metals and toxins in their blood.

“I use it as an adjunct therapy, not as a primary therapy,” Sparks says. She also recommends patients gradually increase the temperature and time in the sauna to prevent any excess stress or strain on the body.

The lack of research on the treatment is what makes Daliah Wachs, a family medicine physician on the faculty at Touro University, hesitant to recommend infrared saunas to her patients.

“We just don’t have enough data to say we like or we don’t like it, so the risks are the same as with any other sauna right now,” Wachs says. For patients with inflammatory skin conditions, she says high heat could exacerbate their issues. Patients taking beta blockers, diuretics or any other medication that affects body temperature should also avoid saunas, she says, because they can affect blood pressure and cause dehydration.

Cure asks clients if they’re taking any medication and if they’ve consulted their doctor prior to beginning a session. They also provide an electrolyte mix and water to help re-hydrate afterward.

Though she hasn’t seen any medical justifications for visiting an infrared sauna, Wachs says, “If people say they feel better and they like it, then we say, ‘OK,’ as long as it’s not hurting them.”

Contact her at scorsa@reviewjournal.com and follow @sarahcorsa on Twitter.